I only applied to 5 schools this application cycle including my own home institution. I didn't get into the 2 top 30-40 schools(both UCs, perhaps a mistake given that I am a foreigner and I hear the UCs have trouble funding us) but got into 2 between the 60-70 range and also my home institution. I know i made the mistake of not applying to enough schools this year. I am planning on sitting it out for a year and apply to some schools between 40-60, and perhaps with a focus on optical science. First, is that a bad idea to do that, given that I have no background in optical science? Other than the obvious university of rochester and university of Arizona, are there other places that I should check out? I listed my profile below as reference. I wonder if university of arizona/univeristy of rochester would be too far of a reach given my profile and background in HEP instead of optics. I think i can improve my PGRE score quite a bit to 7x%. Otherwise, what are some reputable programs that I should check out? Thanks in advance.

Undergrad Institution: American State school with little reputation for physicsMajor(s):PhysicsMinor(s):philosophy, mathematicsGPA in Major:3.5Overall GPA:3.5Length of Degree: (Are you graduating after 3, 4, or 5 years?)5 yearsPosition in Class: First 1/3Type of Student: International, asian, female

TOEFL Total: 117(technically i did my undergrad in the US and it is waived in most cases)

Research Experience: HEP experiment on detectors for 3 years. Lab manager right now. the team's "Expert" on the detector. Also worked on a small astrophysics project on the side and a GR project on a solution to einstein's equation. One summer in my home country on a simulation project, but didn't really do very much. No publication. A couple of different talks. One of them in a national conference.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I took a self study session on GR and practically taught myself tensor calculus and solving Einstein's equation with occasional help

Special Bonus Points: taking 2 graduate classes right now.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My GPA took a great hit in my 2nd and 3rd year because I was really homesick. I grew out of that though, got 4.0s in my last 2 semesters. but some of my 3000, 4000 level physics courses have less than pretty grades

Applying to Where:

Result this year:School university of illinois chicago ->accepted for experimental HEPSchool University of Nebraska lincoln-> accepted for experimental HEPSchool Home institution->acceptedSchool UC santa cruz->rejectedSchool UC davis ->haven't hear back, not optimistic.

Plan next yearBoston UniversityU of Arizona University of Rochesteruniversity of Oregon...........

Northwestern on the reach end of the scale, if you can manage a 70th percentile and better on the next try... my intermediate EM instructor seemed to rave NWU, even going so far as to suggest NWU to one of his undergraduate summer assistants.

Again, given the peculiar nature of students at my undergrad, many AMO-bound kids would turn down even a direct-PhD at NWU in order to stay at their undergrad, even though they had the ability to succeed once at NWU.

Hey. thanks for the input.I guess i wasn't clear on what i mean by optics. Really, I want to study laser: properties, how to make them etc. I am not so interested in the optics program in NWU since it seems more like they are using light to study material. Where do you go for undergrad btw?